Hudspeth expects UL QB Jennings to 'come roaring back'

UL quarterback Anthony Jennings (11) jumps into the end zone en route to a 3-yard touchdown run during a win over McNeese State earlier this season.(Photo11: MICHAEL O. CURLEY/SPECIAL TO THE ADVERTISER)Buy Photo

So sometime not too long after the Ragin’ Cajuns had returned to Lafayette from a 37-31 double-overtime to New Mexico State in Las Cruces, New Mexico, and teammates had gathered in the theater-style team room at UL’s Athletic Performance Center, Jennings addressed the crowd.

“We came in; we talked about the game, as a team, in this team room,” Jennings said a few days later, while sitting in a front-row seat of the very same auditorium.

“I wanted to say something to the team, and tell them that, ‘That’s not me, and that’s not what I’m gonna continue to do.’”

Jennings’ sin?

The graduate-transfer senior quarterback threw two interceptions in 2-3 UL’s Oct. 1 loss at NMSU, the second of which Jayden Wright returned 45 yards for a touchdown to help give the Aggies a 21-10 lead late in the opening half.

It was the sixth interception in three games and fifth turnover in two games for Jennings, and it was enough for Cajuns coach Mark Hudspeth to give him the hook.

Hudspeth’s thinking at the time he replaced Jennings with senior backup Jalen Nixon?

With all that had gone wrong through the Las Cruces air early on, the Cajun coach wanted to keep the ball on the ground as much as possible the rest of the way — and that was run-first Nixon’s specialty throughout his UL career.

“Jalen wasn’t going to beat us with his arm,” said Hudspeth, whose Cajuns were idle Saturday and face Appalachian State in an ESPN2-televised Sun Belt Conference game on Wednesday night at Cajun Field.

“We had to do what he (Nixon) can do. At that point, I felt like we could run the ball — and especially with Jalen coming in, I felt that’s the strength of our team.

“So,” Hudspeth added, “I just told George (UL offensive coordinator Jorge Munoz), ‘Hey, let’s get back in the game. We can do it, because we’re playing good on defense. So let’s don’t give them anything else; let’s run the ball; let’s get back in it, and we did that.’”

UL did later get a 47-yard Stevie Artigue field goal to force overtime, and as it turned out Nixon – who rallied the Cajuns in the second half – was injured during an 11-yard run early in OT.

Nixon’s Cajun career is now done because of a broken ankle, putting QB duties squarely back in Jennings’ hands not only for overtime but also the remainder of the season.

Hudspeth has suggested the No. 1 job would have been Jennings’ even if Nixon hadn’t gotten hurt.

And whether Nixon was behind him or not, that wasn’t going to alter Jennings’ response to the heat he faced.

“I don’t think it changes it at all,” he said of Nixon’s absence.

“I was gonna come back as prepared as I’ve ever been after that performance, even if I wasn’t benched or not, throwing a pick-six and throwing another one that wasn’t caused by anybody but myself.”

One of Jennings’ first thoughts, he suggested, was watching film.

The next?

“Getting all the guys together,” he said, “and letting them know that all the turnovers that had been caused had been by me, and me solely.”

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A fan stops UL quarterback Anthony Jennings for a good luck dance before a win over McNeese State earlier this year.(Photo11: SCOTT CLAUSE/THE ADVERTISER)

Jennings and the Cajun offense made it through UL’s first two games of the season, a loss to Boise State and a win over McNeese State, turnover-free.

Jennings spoke during that stretch about the importance of decision-making, and a knack for knowing when it was okay to throw the ball away or even take a sack simply to ensure there was no chance for an interception.

Then he was intercepted twice in a win over South Alabama.

He was intercepted twice, and fumbled once, in a quadruple-overtime loss at Tulane, all three mistakes later attributed — quite understandably — to protection issues from an injury-hampered offensive line.

But then there also were the two picks at New Mexico State, the second of which — a throw back into the middle of the field after he was flushed out of the pocket to his right — really seemed to bother Hudspeth.

Protection wasn’t primarily at fault there.

“Those are just decision-making things,” Hudspeth said.

“That really doesn’t have anything to do with the scheme we were calling. Because no matter your call, if you get flushed out of the pocket you can’t throw back across the middle.”

He was able to do so largely because of all he endured during three seasons at LSU, including one in which he started all but one game.

Coincidentally, he was benched mid-game during one of his 2014 starts — against New Mexico State.

By the end of a year in which he threw for 11 touchdowns but also caught his fair share of flak, leading to a 2015 season in which Brandon Harris took over the starting job in Baton Rouge, Jennings had grown the armor that’s helped him absorb the hits of criticism he’s taken lately.

“No doubt,” Jennings said.

“Some things that you haven’t experienced before will take you for a storm that first time, but after you learn from it, after you grow from it, I think you get tough skin, and it doesn’t really bother you as much.”

“He’s just like the rest of us,” the Cajun coach said. “He’s taken ownership, and he’s really come out wanting to improve.

“So I’ve been real pleased with his work ethic, with his attitude. He’s doesn’t get too high, and he doesn’t get too low. I like that part about him. He just wants to win. He wants to prepare. I’ve been real proud.”

Those comments came Friday, after a few bonus practices during the long layoff between the NMSU and Appalachian State games.

Last Monday, though, Hudspeth seemed to still be feeling the sting of UL’s second straight overtime loss.

“When he’s on, he’s really on,” he said then of Jennings. “And when he makes some decisions like the other night, that really hurts his team.

“But I really think that he’s gonna play much better. All we ask him to do is, ‘Hey, just play within the system. Play within what the defense gives you. Don’t try to do anything more or anything less.’”

Those all are points Jennings, who joined the Cajuns just one day before the opening of preseason camp, has heard a time or two in the last week.

They’re not the only ones.

“We … reminded him we want every series to end with a kick, whether it’s a field goal, an extra point or a punt,” Hudspeth said. “If it ends with a kick, hey, we can live to see another day.

“But when the series ends with a defensive touchdown … that’s how (the Aggies) scored 24 (in regulation). Then you lose momentum, you lose points, all those things; you lose confidence.

“So, we’ve got to fix those things,” Hudspeth added. “But I think all those things are, obviously, very correctable if we can just play within the system. But I expect him to come roaring back.”

Senior linebacker Otha Peters, leader of the UL defense, suggested his unit has its quarterback’s back.

And that was even before Jennings’ talk to the team.

“They’re gonna get it,” Peters said of the Cajun offense immediately after the loss in Las Cruces.

“Anthony, he’s just getting into this offense. He (hasn’t) been there that long, still. So he’s got to learn everything.

“But we’ve got to practice harder. Defense, we’ve got to get more turnovers ourselves to get them the ball more,” Peters added. “When we do get the ball out, sometimes we don’t get on it. We’ve got to start capitalizing on the mistakes the (opposing) offense makes.”

As for the Cajun offense, focus this past week clearly has been on cleaning up its own miscues.

“Get that in shape,” Jennings said, “and I think we have a great football team here.”

“You know, they were ready to hang Stevie Artigue – and he came back the next week and made them all eat crow, and you can put that in the paper.

“This kid (Jennings) is a hard-worker. He is gonna come storming back, just like Stevie did. I love the guy to death,” Hudspeth added. “I think he is excelling in preparation. He cares tremendously about doing a good job for this team, and I think there’s a lot of good ball ahead for him.”